


The Conundrum

by TheLoneRebels



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Anakin gets more than he bargained for, Better Than Canon, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Like WAY more., Multi, Padme really is an Angel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:13:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28374459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLoneRebels/pseuds/TheLoneRebels
Summary: When Ahsoka is injured, Anakin will do whatever he can to make it better. Unfortunately, he doesn't know just what he's unleashing in the process. A hot A.U. where Anidala and Rexsoka become a quad of sorts as they stop Sidious from taking over the galaxy, rewriting the events of ROTS and Clone Wars season 7, episodes 10-12.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker/Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 54
Kudos: 111





	1. Crash and Burn

**Hello there!**

**Thank you all soooooo much for checking out my story! If you like it, it's very inspiring to me if you let me know in some way, and thank you in advance for every kudos, sub, or nice review; they're my own version of caffeine. :D :D :D :D :D**

**For those who really wish I would write a one shot of their idea or would just really like to see a certain story bump up to the top of my rotation, check out the pinned post on my Facebook page, TheLoneRebel's Stories, for info. You can also find my updating schedule there and blurbs from some of my chapters. :D**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own any Star Wars characters and any OC's that resemble real people are entirely coincidental.**

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**There is an explanation of how my calendar works and a list of helpful translations for my commonly used Star Wars words in 'Flame of Hope - Everyone' if you're curious.**

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**A/N: This story is for my 2020 AO3 reward winner, Jack_Starwin. Theoretically this was supposed to be a one shot, but I know myself, and I know it will end up a full story length, so we’re going to do chapters right off the bat. I’ll write 2 chapters right away and the rest will show up whenever this story gets a turn in the rotation. :P**

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** The Conundrum **

**Crash and Burn:**

“Son of a fragging Hutt!” Anakin swore under his breath as he just barely avoided turning the Twilight into a metal pancake on the side of the Separatist cruiser that had just popped out of hyperspace, come to join the battle that hadn’t existed when he and Ahsoka had gone on a scouting mission to the planet below. Of the four dozen or so vulture droids that were chasing his tail, almost half of them weren’t so fortunate, exploding on impact.

Anakin grinned to himself. _Droids can’t fly half as well as a Jedi, no matter what Obi-Wan says._ “That’s twenty-six for me,” he called, eyes glued on the chaotic space battle in front of him. “How you doin’, Snips?”

Ahsoka, who was employing the Twilight’s laser canons, huffed. “Those last twenty didn’t count. You didn’t know that cruiser was going to show up, so they killed themselves.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he insisted. “I dodged, they didn’t. I’m counting it.”

“Whatever,” she grumbled.

“So what’s your count?” He really wanted to know. And maybe gloat a little.

Anakin smirked to himself as he felt her glare on the back of his head. “I’m at seventeen, if you must know.”

“Not bad,” he praised teasingly. “But I’m sure you could do better. Focus.”

“I’ll focus you, you big rancor butt.”

The young knight snickered to himself, not offended in the least by the words she’d muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

Anakin spent the next ten minutes pursuing and evading enemy fighter droids and dodging laser fire from the cruisers and destroyers from both sides of the war doing their level best to obliterate each other. By the time he’d managed to lure his thirty-second vulture droid to its death, Ahsoka had caught up in her count and was now ahead by three. He decided to try and remedy that by taking a huge risk and flying right through the laser fire between Obi-Wan’s Venator and the Seppie cruiser it had engaged.

It worked.

Mostly.

Four more vulture droids met their end, but he’d missed dodging one green laser bolt and it had been the last hurrah for the Twilight’s already faltering shields. _Kark pat. We’re not out of this yet._ Never one to give up, Anakin kept flying when he should have retreated to safety of his Venator.

“What’s that alarm for?” Ahsoka demanded even as she shot down another vulture droid.

“Nothing!” Anakin lied as he smacked a button to make the wailing noise desist. “Just the old girl having fits again for no reason.”

He could feel her skepticism through their Force bond, but she let it slide without further comment. He was grateful as he poured every ounce of his concentration into flying like their lives depended on it. Because now they really did.

He would have been fine if one of their own fighters hadn’t suddenly crashed into them from behind in an out-of-control spin. He’d been concentrating on the enemy, not their own ships. And it cost him. The last millisecond of warning from the Force wasn’t enough to avoid the collision but it was enough for him to start turning into it to lessen the impact.

Artoo squealed as he went flying.

Ahsoka, who’d been standing at the gunner’s pull-down terminal, was thrown across the cockpit with a cry that was suddenly silenced as her head made contact with something hard. Anakin’s heart dropped to the vicinity of his stomach. But he couldn’t check on her until he got his fried ship back under control.

And it was fighting him badly as the systems crackled with sparking electricity caused by the crash. “Artoo!” he yelled. “See if you can figure out what’s shorted out and fix it!”

As they spun dangerously close to the side of his own flagship, Artoo beeped an affirmative and he heard his trusty droid roll back across the floor and back to his wall socket. Anakin had just gotten the ship to fly straight again when Artoo beeped out, “Hyperdrive is…” and then came the awful, garbled scream of a droid being electrocuted. Followed immediately by the familiar increase in cabin pressure as the ship prepared to shift into jumpspace.

“Kark!” Anakin cursed as his fear for his friends ate at him with sharp teeth.

The control panels in front of him were all going haywire as sparks and blue electricity danced around them. All Anakin had time to do was make sure the Twilight was pointed at a clear bit of space between other ships before the blue and white light of passing stars filled the cockpit.

“Shit, shit, shit,” he muttered, knowing that they could crash right into a planet or sun at any second if he didn’t get his ship to stop. Pretty much everything was unresponsive at this point, so the only thing he could do was cut the power. He had to use the Force to do it, because he didn’t dare actually touch the control panel anymore.

Unfortunately, the blasted ship didn’t want to turn off. They were still in hyperspace with the toggles pointed down. Grimacing at what he was about to do to his baby, Anakin stood and grabbed his lightsabre. He plunged the blue blade into the console where he knew the navicomputer was.

They dropped out of hyperspace immediately.

And then the power finally decided to turn off, plunging him into darkness except for the glow of his lightsabre. “Kriff. That’s just great.”

Looking outside and not seeing anything but black space and stars in front of him, Anakin let the Twilight drift forward as it wanted with what was left of its velocity and decided to let the ship’s systems settle for a minute before trying to reboot them. They had a few minutes before the temperature inside fell into the uncomfortable range.

Turning he looked for his Padawan and found her crumpled half against the wall to the right, not far from where Artoo lay on the floor. “Ahsoka!” Leaving his droid for now, Anakin rushed to her side, worry making his heart pound in his chest. Kneeling beside her, he put his lightsabre down on the floor carefully so it didn’t burn anything and stayed on. Then he pulled the little warrior girl into his lap as his eyes scanned her for injuries.

There was dripping red blood running down her face, and it was coming from under her Akul tooth headdress. _She must have hit the wall hard enough for a tooth to cut her. Poor Snips._

With careful hands, Anakin felt under her lekku for the tiny clasps that held the strands of beads together and kept the headdress from falling off. Then he pulled on the large teeth that were lightly glued to her forehead until the whole thing peeled off. Putting the decorative symbol of a huntress’ achievement that also carried her Padawan’s silka beads down on the floor beside him, he turned his attention back to her forehead. There was a cut on the white base of her montral, and it was already starting to swell. _Poodoo._

Picking her up easily and standing, he then called his lightsabre to hand and exited the cockpit, using the Force to open the door since the power was still off. The medbay was just down the hallway and he took her there, laying her down on the bed within gently after setting his deadly blue glow stick on the floor to illuminate the space. Not bothering to power up the old med-droid slumped in a corner, Anakin dug through a drawer for supplies.

He cleaned the blood off of her face first and then sprayed the cut with a disinfectant. A bacta bandage went on top and was taped down. During all of this, she moaned a couple times, but never woke, worrying him further. And the swelling on her montral was still increasing.

The bacta and rest would heal her in a day or so, even if she had a concussion, but Anakin wanted her better immediately. He couldn’t stand to see his precious Snips in any sort of pain or distress if he could help it. So he tried something he’d been thinking about ever since she’d died on Mortis but had never actually had the opportunity to try before, not wanting to look stupid in front of others. But they were all alone here, and if he was wrong, then no one would know if his experiment was just crazy wishful thinking.

Touching the delicate skin of her montral with feather-light fingers around the swelling, Anakin closed his eyes and concentrated on the Force thrumming within himself and their bond. And then he pushed as much of his energy into her via their bond and his touch as he thought was safe, knowing he still needing something to work with while he fixed the ship so they didn’t freeze to death.

Maybe a minute later, possibly less, Ahsoka gasped and he withdrew the connection, feeling tired but exhilarated. Because the bump on her head was gone and she practically glowed with life and Force energy. Curious to see if his healing experiment had worked on the cut too, Anakin peeled the bandage off her montral just as she opened her eyes.

“Ow,” she protested from the pulling of her skin, raising a hand to her head to rub at the area as Anakin grinned like a loon.

“It worked!” His fingers joined hers and he rubbed the flawless skin where the cut used to be, just to double check that his eyes weren’t deceiving him.

Ahsoka caught his hand and held onto it, making him belatedly realize that he was getting a little too personal with one of her most sensitive areas. “What worked? And what happened to the lights?”

Still distracted with his own success, he let her keep his hand. “You hit your head and cut it. I healed you with the Force!” Anakin beamed down at her as she sat up. “Isn’t that great?!”

Ahsoka beamed back at him, her warm little fingers playing with his in a pleasant way. “That is great. You learned a new trick! The Healers at the Temple are going to be so jealous of you when they find out.”

He laughed. “Let them be. Oh, and the lights are out because the Twilight kind of broke again. We’ve jumped to I have no idea where and I need to go fix it.”

“Okay,” she said, but she didn’t let go of his left hand when he moved to leave.

Anakin looked down in surprise, suddenly realizing that their fingers were locked together and that he’d been letting her do things to his hand only Padmè had ever done before. “Ummm, Snips? Is there a reason you’ve attached us together? You’re not afraid of the dark are you?”

“No.” Ahsoka purred out a laugh and slinked off the bed, only to press her body against his. He stiffened in surprise. Their joined hands were brought up to her mouth and she licked one of his knuckles. “I’m just taking advantage of the intimate ambiance you’ve created for us.”

 _What the kark? She’s lost it!_ Anakin pushed her away and literally peeled her fingers off of his because tugging wasn’t working. (And even that might not have been successful if he didn’t have a mechanical hand to his advantage.) “Ahsoka! What’s wrong with you?! You know I don’t love you like that!”

Like she was drawn by a magnetic force, the girl was magically attached to him again, and this time her arms were wrapped around his neck as she rubbed her chest against him. “Hmmmm. I disagree. I can feel how much you care for me through our bond.”

Anakin reached behind him and unlocked her hands, gripping each wrist carefully but in a durasteel grip as he pushed her away again. “Care, yes. Like my sister. And you know this! What’s gotten into you?” She was actually struggling to get close to him again, so he didn’t dare let her go. As he looked at her with shocked worry, Anakin finally noticed that her pupils were dilated and that her skin was increasing in temperature under his bare left hand. She was always warmer than him, being a Togruta, but she was getting alarmingly hot. “Force, do you have a fever? Are you sick? Did I somehow cultivate a bacteria or something in you when I healed you?” 

Ahsoka shook her head, making that purring laugh again that would catch the interest of any male who wasn’t firmly in love with someone else already. “I’m not sick, Anakin. Whatever you did has triggered my mating instinct. Which means you’re mine now.”

 _Oh shit._ Anakin gulped. “Isn’t there a drug you take to keep your heat cycles under control?” As awkward as it was to ask it, he did know the basics about such things thanks to so much time spent in close proximity to her.

“Yes,” she purred, licking her plump burgundy lips as she eyed him like a hungry predator. Which, technically, she was. Anakin was starting to think that he might be screwed – literally – as his cock stirred in direct response to the action. “But they’re not here. And this isn’t a normal heat cycle.”

“It’s not?” His voice was embarrassingly high pitched. And his arms seemed to be losing strength as she kept pushing towards him. _Shouldn’t have given her so much of my energy. Bad, bad mistake._ Or maybe it was because something in him was starting to cave in to the idea. Ahsoka was an incredibly beautiful girl, after all. And he was just a guy with a healthy dose of testosterone thrumming in his blood right now. _Is it possible she’s emitting irresistible pheromones? Because this is nuts; I love my wife!_

“No, Anakin. It’s not.” She licked her lips again. And her skin under his hand was even hotter.

His worry and arousal both ramped up a few more degrees. “How… How is it not?”

Ahsoka pushed towards him again and this time his arms bent. She pressed her soft breasts against him with a happy purr that his traitorous dick thought was the sexiest thing it had ever heard. Looking up at him, her blue eyes shone in a narrow ring around pitch black pupils. “I’d rather show you than tell you,” she whispered huskily. “I guarantee you’ll like it. There’s a reason Togrutas are so popular on the slave market.”

Anakin gulped. Not only at her words, but because she was caressing his chest with her lekku. He’d never seen her move her lekku on purpose before. Hadn’t even been entirely sure the rumours that lekku were prehensile were true.

There was no question about that now.

Hoping, needing, to buy himself some time, the confused and overwhelmed Jedi Knight said, “I have no doubt that’s true, but I have to fix the ship or we’ll freeze to death sooner than later.”

Rising on her toes, Ahsoka pressed her luscious mouth to his jawline, kissing her way along it as she whispered, “If you must, but I think I could keep us both plenty warm.”

Considering the way her body heat was all but toasting his entire front side, even through their clothes, he didn’t doubt it. _Until we pass out later and turn into sated but very stupid popsicles,_ his realistic side pointed out. Letting go of her wrists, Anakin picked her up by the waist and plunked her back on the bed, kissing her on the forehead in apology for what he was about to do even as he palmed her lightsabres and made them disappear up the tighter sleeves of his undertunic while she was distracted by the lingering touch of his mouth.

“As tempting as that sounds, Snips, I don’t want to die out here in space. So you just stay here and meditate or something for a bit, okay?” He was backing away and calling his lightsabre to hand as he said it, while also getting a feel of the open medbay doors with the Force with his other hand behind his back.

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes at him and was leaping off the bed only a moment later. Anakin Force pushed her back as hard as he dared and then dashed out the door and slammed it closed with an aggressive show of Force. Then he used his lightsabre to weld the doors together so she couldn’t open them right back up with her own power.

“ANAKIN!” Her screech of rage was heard both through the durasteel and in his mind as she threw her body against the door with a solid thump that made him wince.

 _“I’m sorry, Snips,”_ he thought back down their bond. _“Surely there’s a sedative in there somewhere you can take until we get back to the Resolute and you can take your usual drug.”_

 _“I told you THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS!”_ she yelled in his mind so loudly that Anakin physically stumbled as he jogged back to the cockpit. Her anger and despair made him want to turn around and hug her in apology until everything was all better again. But he couldn’t. He didn’t dare.

 _“I’m sorry,”_ he said again, feeling utterly helpless. _“Just hang in there. I’m going to get us some help.”_

And then, feeling guilty as hell and still hornier than he had any right to be, Anakin put up a shield between them so she couldn’t send him any more thoughts and feelings or sense what he was thinking. It was a shield he was used to employing between himself and other empathic Jedi, especially when Padmè was around, and Ahsoka was used to him shutting her out regularly for obvious reasons.

In the cockpit, the first thing he did was set Artoo back on his feet and hit the power button, praying that was all the droid needed to reboot. He beeped to life a second later, dome spinning in confusion before focusing on Anakin.

“Where are we? What happened?”

Anakin rested a hand on the silver dome in relief. “I don’t know and technically, we crashed again. Can you very carefully see if you can find the short in the system so we can get the power up and running again? Ahsoka’s not doing well and we need to get help here as fast as possible.”

“On it!” Artoo beeped and rolled away. Anakin turned to the console that he’d killed and ran a slightly shaking hand through his hair. _Force, what a mess. But I’ve fixed worse. I can fix this too._

His lightsabre went on the floor again and Anakin pulled the panel off and crawled under the console. He cursed under his breath in multiple languages as he started dismantling the various components that had been fried, either by his lightsabre or the electrical surge before that. The only good news was that the comm unit appeared to have survived. He’d find out once Artoo got the power up again.

A few minutes later, his ever amazing droid rolled back into the cockpit beeping, “Found the problem! A blown motivator in the engine room. Replaced it!”

“Thanks, buddy,” Anakin said as he unfolded out from under the console. Going up on his knees, he reached over to the next control panel and reached for the main power switch. “Here goes…”

Switch on, he waited with baited breath for three endless seconds, and then the lights started turning on and various parts whistled and clanked throughout the whole ship as things rebooted. Including the heating system, which was good, because he was starting to shiver, he realized as he called his lightsabre to hand again and hung it on his belt after turning it off.

“Artoo, plug into the comm system and get Rex and Obi-Wan for me.”

“Okay.”

As the droid rolled to the wall socket, Anakin changed his mind. “No wait!”

Artoo paused and swivelled his dome around. “Someone else first?”

“Yeah. Yeah, send a holo request to Kamino. I need to talk to Master Ti.”

“Will do.”

Anakin sat down on the floor again and shimmied back under the control panel, expecting it to take at least five minutes for the Togrutan Jedi Master to return his call. He wasn’t expecting to be nearly assaulted by an angry Togrutan Padawan in the meantime, though.

His first and only warning that Ahsoka had escaped the medbay was by having his ankle being grabbed and being bodily pulled out from under the console. “Whaaaaaa…” he exclaimed and then blinked up at the girl who looked like she wanted to eat him for dinner. But this time, not in a good way.

“Anakin Skywalker,” she growled, hands planted on her hips. (She actually growled and It was kriffing frightening.) “If I wasn’t on the verge of losing my mind from the need to jump your traitorous body, I would rip you into a hundred pieces right now! But I would prefer to mate with something alive, frag you very much.”

He believed her. Her Force aura was literally raging around her with more desire than he’d even seen in another being. Mixed in with that was a very unhealthy dose of Dark energy that was growing by the second. Her eyes were even starting to flicker towards yellow, and that wasn’t good. Not good at all. _Karking hell._

Holding out a placating hand, he rose to his feet. “I’m sorry, Ahsoka. Please, I didn’t mean you any harm. I was trying to protect you from yourself, that's all.”

She didn’t appear appeased by his words, but her eyes went fully sky blue again, so he took that as a good sign. “I don’t need protecting from myself, you idiot.” She shook her head at him then sighed and basically whimpered out, “I just need you to love me back.”

The broken tone in her voice was enough to make him feel like he’d been punched in the gut. Again, he wished with his entire being that he could hug her until she felt better, but he still didn't dare.

That choice was taken out of his hands as Ahsoka sobbed once and then launched herself at him so that he had no other option but to fold his arms around her back as she hung off his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Oh, Snips, I’m sorry,” he whispered against her montral as she cried a river into his neck. It had never occurred to him that this was traumatizing for her as well.

“Got her!” Artoo beeped triumphantly just before he projected Shaak Ti’s holo image before him in life-sized form.

“Skywalker, what can I…” her words faded when she saw his passenger. “Oh. Is this a bad time?”

“No!” he said quickly, briefly holding out a hand in a stop motion to make sure she didn’t leave before tucking it below Ahsoka's back lek again. “I need your help. Advice. Something.”

Ahsoka cried harder, embarrassment flooding their bond. 

_Poodoo._

“What have you done this time?” the Togrutan Master said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Anakin’s face scrunched up in reluctance to admit that he’d royally karked things up, but he had to, so…. “Ahsoka hit her head, and I healed her with the Force, but now she thinks she needs to mate with me even though I’m sure I just need to get her back to the Resolute so she can take her normal drugs for a heat or whatever this is.”

“Anakin…” With a sobering expression, Master Ti shook her head at him. (People do that to him a lot.) “When you healed her, did you use your training bond as a conduit?”

“Well, yes,” he shrugged. “Should I not have?”

The Jedi Master winced visibly. “That’s not good. Is your bond stronger than normal now?”

Thinking back to how easy it had been to exchange thoughts with her, and experiencing her pain and desire now as he was, Anakin had to admit, “Yes.”

“Did she say anything about mating as opposed to heat?”

Thinking back, Anakin realized that she had. “She said I’d triggered her mating instinct. Is that bad?”

Master Ti laughed once, her eyes starting to sparkle again. “Only if you’re a Jedi.”

He glared at the older woman. “What does that mean?”

The hologram smiled at him in that annoying benign way that all the older Masters had. Including Obi-Wan. “It means, young Skywalker, that you’re in for a wild ride for the next two days and that you are now the forever mate of a beautiful young Togruta. Most males would kill to be in your place right now.”

Thinking of his somewhat rocky but very committed and loving marriage to Padmè, he flinched. Which made Ahsoka stiffen. “And there’s no way out of it?” He had to ask. Ahsoka basically turned into a vibrating rock in his arms, and her anger and sense of betrayal was flooding him again. _“I’m sorry,”_ he thought to her.

Master Ti shook her head, expression very serious now. “No, there’s not. Once a Togruta goes into heat for their true mate, it won’t stop until the need is appeased the natural way. If you don’t, she’ll burn up with fever until she eventually falls into a coma and then dies of heartbreak.”

“Kark,” he whispered, “I can’t let that happen. Not to my Snips.”

Master Ti inclined her head. “Then there’s your answer.”

“Right.” Anakin tightened his arms around his Padawan as resolve filled him. _I'll_ _just have to work things out with Padmè later. Maybe she’ll be open to a polyamorous relationship?_ “Thank you, Master Ti.”

“You’re welcome, Anakin. And don’t worry about your standing with the Order. Exceptions have been made in the past, and this will certainly qualify.”

“Thank you.” _Too bad she’d never have said the same thing if she found out I was married to a normal Human woman._

With a final nod and smile of encouragement, Master Ti’s hologram disappeared. Anakin focused on his droid. “Artoo, contact Obi-Wan and give him our coordinates, but tell him we don’t need a rescue for two days at least, so not to rush.”

“What do I say when he asks why?” Artoo beeped back.

Anakin huffed and pressed his cheek against Ahsoka’s satin-skinned montral for a second for courage. “Just play him my conversation with Master Ti. That should explain more than enough.”

“Okay.”

“Thanks, bud. You might as well fix what you can while Snips and I are… Whatevering.”

The droid beeped and shook with laughter, inspiring an actual laugh from Ahsoka as well. She was pliant in his arms again, hot as furnace, and love was rushing down their bond like a sandstorm hellbent on smothering him to death.

Despite knowing that this was going to either completely ruin, or at the very least drastically change, his relationship with his wife forever, Anakin carried his now purring Togruta mate to his cabin to embark on two wild days of whatevering.

And the purrs and nibbling kisses she was pressing against his neck were working on his body exactly the way he was sure she intended them to; inspiring, to say the least.


	2. A World Rocked

**A World Rocked:**

The bunk in Anakin’s cabin wasn’t particularly large – his feet nearly hung off the end, in fact – but it was big enough to snuggle two people into if they were so inclined. And Ahsoka was certainly inclined.

Since she didn’t seem like she was going to let him go anytime soon, Anakin sat down on the edge of the bed with the girl still attached to his front like a hot monkey, expecting to stay there for a while as they explored kissing or something. (It’s certainly how things would have played out if this were Padmè)

But the second his ass touched the mattress, Ahsoka used his momentum to push him onto his back. He stared up at her in surprise as she sat straddling his hips with her hands on his shoulders and grinned at him ferally, showing off her sharp little canines. “You’re mine now, Skyguy. I did say once that you’d be stuck with me. I wasn’t kidding.”

“Apparently not.” He tried to smile as if he wasn’t completely disturbed, but he doubted that he succeeded. “Are you saying you always knew this would happen?”

She shrugged and leaned down as she buried her hands in his hair to hold him still and started nibbling on his neck. “Perhaps,” she trilled in a gloating tone, meaning yes. “Thought we’d get through the war first, at least though.” Then she bit him. Hard. Sinking her teeth into his neck and sending a jolt of electric pleasure/pain through him. _Kark!_

“Argh! What the kriff was that for?!” he asked even as she was licking the blood off the wound and his body was stringing itself tight with desire at a relatively violent act he never would have thought sexy in the slightest before this.

With one more purring lick, Ahsoka rose up a bit and somehow both smiled wickedly down at him while also glaring daggers – another frightening look, to say the least. “That’s a normal mating mark for my kind, but aside from that, it was payback for locking me in the medbay. I had to crawl out through the vents, you nerf.”

Anakin couldn’t decide if he should be aroused or petrified. He’d always been the dominant partner with Padmè, so he had no idea how this was going to work. It was clear enough that Ahsoka was going to be in charge of their endeavours for the time being, though. _Might as well just go with it, I guess._

“If you don’t want me to discipline you more,” Ahsoka said with a spark in her eyes that said her teasing might also be entirely serious.

He wasn’t surprised she’d read his thoughts so easily. It seemed he was incapable of putting up a shield between them anymore. Like the mating bond thing that was getting stronger by the minute didn’t want him to. “Preferably not,” he said, and then when her expression fell, he amended it to, “At least not that hard.”

Ahsoka beamed at him and leaned down to kiss the corner of his mouth. “Right answer, Skyguy.” Then she kissed him properly, her mouth pressing and moving against his in a clearly uneducated way that was still arousing in its innocent naivety.

Unable to help himself, Anakin reached up and cupped her face on either side of her lekku and took control of the kiss, teaching her how to make it perfect. Her lush lips felt amazing against his – like they were meant to connect like this - and the flavour he found in the depths of her sweet mouth sent his head spinning with ever ramping desire.

As always, his Padawan was a fast learner, and within a few minutes she was somehow in control again and delving her tongue into his mouth as her hands fisted in his hair and a rumble of purrs emerged from her throat.

Those purrs were giving him very explicit ideas.

As their kiss went on and on as if breathing were optional – apparently it was, because he was existing just fine without it – Ahsoka started to rock her center against the already aching length in his trousers, driving him even further towards blissful insanity.

She moaned into the kiss and then pulled back with a gasp, eyes practically black and very wide as she looked down at him. “Force, I need you in me now.”

“Now?” _Without any prep?_ “Are you sure?”

“Now,” she growled, backing off of him and standing as she started pulling clothes off with Force speed. “Strip,” she warned next. “Or I’ll rip it all off.”

Anakin stripped.

Not that ripping didn’t sound hot as hell, but he didn’t have an extra set of clothes on the Twilight right now and he had no desire for Obi-Wan to see him in rags whenever he decided to come rescue them.

When he pulled his undertunic over his head, her lightsabres fell out and the orange-skinned girl now wearing only her underwear pounced on them with a happy growl, shooting him a look of disgust that needed no words. But she said them anyway. “You just had to take them, didn’t you?”

Anakin shrugged and tried to look apologetic. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

She hissed at him while hugging the weapons to her chest for a moment before dropping them down on to her battle outfit.

“I would have given them back!” he said defensively while pulling off his boots. _As soon as you were yourself again, anyway._

He kept forgetting that she had a direct line to his thoughts now, because she shot him another disgusted look as the rest of her garments where whisked off her body.

Anakin froze in the act of pushing his trousers down his hips, gawking at the now naked girl as if he’d never seen a female before in his life.

It certainly felt like he hadn’t.

Padmè was beautiful. More than beautiful, really. Angelic perfection. But Ahsoka was like a wild and exotic tooka hybrid. Her slender figure flowed with subtle muscles that made his mouth water. And she was naturally decorated in white nexu stripes, lightning bolts, and diamonds in the most intriguing places that he wanted to lick so much it felt like a compulsion. All of her marks had been strategically covered by her clothes except for the ones on her face, leaving him in shock at how much he didn’t know about the girl.

Aside from that, her figure was also more womanly than he expected it to be. Somewhere along the way, she’d grown up on him while he was still thinking of her as the scrawny little fourteen year old who’d first showed up on Christophsis. Her breasts were decidedly more full and rounded than he’d bothered to notice before, looking all perfect and perky as they stared him in the face from his seated position. The diamonds surrounding her burgundy nipples called to him like a siren.

Her waist and hip area weren’t all that far behind either, dipping and rounding out in the most delicious way, with more perfectly placed markings to draw the eye and invite his touch.

“By all the Stars, Snips, you’re gorgeous,” he breathed in awe.

The girl preened, running her hands down her body enticingly. “You like?”

“Force, yes!” He moved to grab her by the hips and pull her into him so he could kiss her, but she put up a hand to stop him, making him freeze again. “What?”

“Trousers,” she said with a smirk, flicking her eyes downwards pointedly and then staying there.

Feeling more stupid and hornier than he had in years, Anakin shed the last barriers between himself and her curious gaze.

She gasped in the most satisfying, ego-stoking way. _Stars, that’s going to feel amazing,_ she thought to herself, but he heard her anyway.

By the way she’d kissed at first, Anakin had assumed that she was also inexperienced in other ways. But she didn’t feel afraid to him at all. She was downright eager, in fact. This time, as he reached for her, she let him, and even stepped forward into the space between his legs and rested her hands on his shoulders. “Ahsoka, I have to ask for the sake of… things. Have you done this before?”

She flushed a little, everything from her montrals to her chest darkening, as she shook her head and met his eyes shyly. “Not with another person, anyway. I have toys, though. I’d go insane without them, drugs or no.”

That… that somehow just sent his arousal up ten more degrees. The image of this beautiful girl bringing herself to pleasure was almost enough to short-circuit his brain completely. But there was one more thing that needed to be said before he let this continue and the wild part started.

“That’s good,” he said huskily. “I’d never want to hurt you.”

“You couldn’t,” she said cheekily as she climbed into his lap. “The males of my species have penises that come with barbs and can be even bigger. Your Human cock looks a great deal more appealing, in my opinion.” She finished the last by whispering it in his ear and rubbing her soaked and very hot core directly against his straining length.

Anakin nearly died, he swore. “Okay,” he gulped. “Glad we got that settled.”

Ahsoka just purred and pushed his shoulders down to the bed again. Anakin had to grab her hips again in a near death grip to stop her from impaling herself on him then and there. This earned him a cross look, of course. “Now what?” she growled.

Sending her the most apologetic feelings he could down their bond, both for stopping her and for what he was about to reveal, he said, “There’s just one more thing you should know before we do this.”

Her ire faded as curiosity took over. It didn’t stop her from running her blunt nails over his shoulders and up into his hair, or her hips from subtly rubbing against him in his hold, though. “What’s that?”

His hands flexed on her before he forced them to relax while he grimaced and then blurted out, “I’m already married.”

Ahsoka laughing was the last reaction he expected to get.

“Why…”

“I know,” she interrupted before he could fully ask why she didn’t look or feel upset.

“What?”

“I know, silly,” she grinned at him, leaning down and popping a quick kiss to the bottom lip of his gaping mouth as her hands went back to his shoulders. “I’ve been able to sense and smell your mating bond with Padmè since the beginning.”

_That’s kind of scary, actually._

_Are there others who can do the same?_

_Kark._

_Human senses are so underpowered._

“And this doesn’t bother you?”

Ahsoka hummed out a, “No,” as she took advantage of his distraction to rise up and then somehow unerringly lower her warm sheath right over his length until she was fully settled on his hips again.

Anakin stopped breathing as his mind went blank and the only sensation in his entire body was the feel of her tight furnace engulfing his most sensitive skin. It was nearly unbearable, but at the same time, he didn’t want to move ever again. Eventually, he remembered how to breathe, how to loosen the bruising grip of his hands, and how to open his eyes.

He found Ahsoka looking completely blissed out as she rocked ever so slightly on his length, her fingers now digging into his pectorals. She looked so beautiful, his chest hurt with it. But… Even though he hated to interrupt her, now that the initial shock of joining with her was over, he still had a burning question in his mind. “Why?”

She either didn’t hear him while lost in her own little world, or she didn’t care enough to respond. And that last wasn’t something that he could accept, not if this was going to work in the long-term. He moved his hands up to her face and cupped it again until she finally opened her eyes and looked at him with a burning gaze that made his heart jump and his cock do the same in its wonderful confines. “Why?” he asked again. It came out a little choked off, but he managed.

Her head tilted slightly and her hips moved more enthusiastically as she kneaded his chest like the tooka she resembled. “Why what?”

“Why doesn’t it bother you?”

His gorgeous little Togruta laughed softly. “Oh, that. Because it’s not uncommon for a Togruta to have two heartmates at once so why shouldn’t other species?”

It was a good question. And one he had no answer for. “I don’t know. Tradition, I guess?”

“Stupid traditions,” she mumbled as she bent to his neck again and suckled on the bite wound she’d already given him. Electricity shot through him again, making him groan with the pleasure, and he suddenly understood what the bite did. He had no doubt that he’d stay hard for her for two days straight as long as she kept inspiring him like that.

When she was satisfied that he’d moaned and squirmed enough, and his hands had fallen to the bedding to clench so he didn’t hurt her (stupid mech hand), Ahsoka sat up again and caressed his face with gentle fingers until he opened his eyes again and looked at her. “What?” he asked, certain that it was her turn to tell him something.

He was right.

The smile she flashed him was tentative but determined. “You should probably know that I have a second heartmate too.”

Somehow, he wasn’t surprised about that at all. Ahsoka was one of the most loving, affection, and caring people he’d ever met, so there was no reason she didn’t have room in her heart for two lifemates. And he was also fairly certain he knew who it was. The way the two of them cared for and protected each other above and beyond the normal had made him suspect that she was going to jump the other man as soon as she could get away with it for a long time. He was kind of surprised she hadn't already. “Rex?”

Ahsoka beamed at him like he was brilliant, and he felt like it in that moment. “Yes. I hope you don't mind sharing me.”

“Whatever makes you happy, Snips,” he said, only wanting one of the very few people he cared deeply for to be as content with their life as possible. And curious about something else he’d heard could make a Togruta happy, he reached up to caress his left hand down her silky yet currently nearly ridged lek where it dangled above him.

Her eyes closed for a second as she gasped and her core clenched around his length in the most mind-blowing way. Anakin froze with his fingers on the blue tip of her lek until she opened her eyes and demanded, “That does! Do that again!”

He was more than willing to. And again and again, even raising his other hand to join in the fun on her other lek at the same time.

Ahsoka screamed out her first climax less than a minute later, drenching him in her slick juices. Anakin, pushed past the edge of endurance from the sweet torture of her channel, came only seconds later as she fluttered around him, soaking them even further.

When she finished shuddering above him, Ahsoka opened her eyes and leaned down to kiss him like her life depended on it. He returned the kiss as her hips started moving on him again and he never had a chance to go soft before desire was roaring through him again. There was something in the sweet nectar to be found in her mouth that he decided must be an aphrodisiac. Whether she give it to him through the wound on his neck or via kisses, he honestly didn’t care. But he also had to wonder what that pheromone would do to him if she ever stopped riding him and sucked him off instead.

He found out some bliss-filled time later after they’d explored every possible position two humanoids could pull off in a bed without ever really disengaging. It was like his cock was permanently affixed in her pussy, and he karking loved it.

And he was right about the purrs in her throat being exactly what a man needed to come like he’d never come before in his life; like his head was going to blow right off. (Either of them.) He loved that too.

He also loved spending as much time as he wanted just licking and kissing her hairless, silken, delicious body from head to toe once she was sated enough to let him, and then he revved her back up again by turning his attention to the center of everything between her legs with his mouth and left hand as his gloved right hand caressed her perfect breasts into hard little peaks. (He didn’t want the cold metal to accidentally mar her skin.)

She loved all that so much that he ended up making her scream his name with his mouth on her clit four times in a row before she pushed him over and rode his oversensitive but still very happy cock yet again.

She also really loved shower sex, and wall sex, and chair sex, and counter sex as they fed each other bites of the best ration bars the Republic could buy. (Meaning they tasted like chalk, but their hungry stomachs didn’t care.) In short, there wasn’t a single thing in his repertoire that they didn’t try and that she didn’t love. Ahsoka was up for anything he thought of, and she had some ideas of her own that made him blink in surprise before his pheromone driven erection said, ‘Yes please!’

Turns out she could make him come by very carefully biting every sensitive part on his body without ever touching his cock. She still managed to catch most of his seed in her mouth, though, because she’d been nibbling on his inner thigh at the time. And then she licked up what she’d missed, making him practically swoon with adoration. 

And then she sent him into orbit by offering to try giving him a lekku job despite not having done anything like it before and wasn’t likely to be able to do it for long until she built up more strength in her headtails. The three minutes she did manage to wrap her breast-length lekku around his cock and balls without using her hands to help hold them there was still enough to make him shoot like a rocket yet again.

And she swallowed that too.

As much as it hurt to admit it, he’d never had this much fun with Padmè. Ahsoka was more flexible and had a much higher level of endurance than his wife did, which he’d always had to be careful about. It felt like his Snips matched him in every way, and that wasn’t something he wanted to admit to himself, but he was forced to after the first day.

Also by the end of the first day, Anakin sent love down their bond that he finally admitted wasn’t of the more generic variety, but the actual true love kind. It was a big step for him to admit it to Ahsoka, and she knew it, pausing in the soft caresses of his hair as they took a short break and smiling so sweetly at him before she kissed him with her own love flooding their bond in return. They didn’t say anything out loud, but they didn’t need to. In that moment, their mating was sealed for life.

By about halfway through day two, Ahsoka’s skin finally felt like a more normal temperature to him and the crazy pheromones had worn off. But they somehow still had the energy and the need to connect one more time. So Anakin wrapped his arms around her as they kissed and rocked together sweetly until one last toe curling and heartwarming climax made their bond and the Force glow again, more beautiful and fulfilling than ever.

Then they passed out with Ahsoka draped over his body like a warm blanket and his left hand stroking her back lek as she purred them to sleep. Anakin had never been more content and sated in his life. (He’d add tired, but that wasn’t true after some of the weeks-long campaigns they’d endured.)

When he woke up, nothing had changed except that Ahsoka wasn’t purring anymore, a blanket was now covering them, and there was a copper headed Jedi Master staring down at them with an epic frown on his face that was twitching at the corner from the resigned amusement he was pretending he wasn’t feeling.

“Hello, Master,” Anakin said as if it was just a normal day.

“Master?” Ahsoka mumbled as she rubbed her cheek against him, making an effort at waking as well.

“Yeah, Snips. Fun’s over.”

Ahsoka gasped and would have leapt off of him if he didn’t tighten his arms on her to preserve their modesty.

“Yes, the fun is most certainly over,” Obi-Wan said gravely. “Both of you, get dressed and go see Kix. You both look like death warmed over. Did you even remember to hydrate and eat in all this time?”

“Yes!” Anakin said defensively. Then had to amend it to, “Sometimes.”

“Padawans,” Obi-Wan sighed, shaking his head.

Ahsoka giggled, making Anakin smile down at her stupidly.

Their good mood evaporated as Obi-Wan threw proverbial ice water on it with, “And did either of you even think about contraceptives?”

_Oh shit._

Oh shit was right, Anakin found out a short time later in the Resolute’s large medbay. Ahsoka was pregnant. Which really shouldn’t have come as any surprise, since that’s what the primal purpose of mating heat was. But the two young Jedi still stared at each other with wide, panicked eyes for a long time, not even noticing when Kix and Obi-Wan quietly left them alone to process.

“Anakin, what are we going to do?” Ahsoka whispered from her seated position on the cot, eyes welling with tears.

He didn’t honestly know, but getting rid of the baby wasn’t even an option as far as he was concerned. Sitting on the cot beside her, he pulled her into his lap sideways and she immediately wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder as she cried silently. Hugging her as tight as he dared, he ran a soothing hand down her back lek the way she liked and kissed the side of her montral. His own eyes stung, but he was ignoring that. “Shhhhhhhh,” he whispered. “Everything will work out. I love you, Snips.”

* * *

_D346/20 BBY, Coruscant_

_I love you, Snips..._

Anakin woke with a silent gasp, early morning light streaming through the large window. He lay frozen in bed staring up at the ceiling with blank eyes as his dream replayed in his mind in flash-forward. But it didn’t need to. He knew he’d never forget a second of it.

He then thought of how Ahsoka had looked when he saw her on Obi-Wan’s Venator yesterday, so grown up and beautiful. How he’d felt to see her again after so long apart, like a huge piece of his soul had finally come back. And now, with this dream added on top, he understood something that had been living in the furthest corner of his mind for years.

_I love Ahsoka. I truly love Ahsoka. As in... In love with Ahsoka. She means just as much to me as Padmè does._

His heart both broke and healed at the same time as he understood that this was going to change everything. But he knew now that his soul, his very life, would never be complete unless Ahsoka was in it as well.

Shuddering out the breath he'd been holding, Anakin rolled over to look at his sleeping wife, so radiantly beautiful in the morning light. Her face was turned towards him and a hand rested on the rounded curve of her stomach where his children lay within. Their Force signatures were nestled like two brilliant beacons of light from within her own glow. _Stars… My little stars. And my angel. How can I hurt them?_

His breath caught on a silent sob. _I can’t._

_But I need Ahsoka too._

_I don’t know what to do._

A tear escaped as he reached over and put his left hand on top of hers, hanging on to all three of his perfect family at once. Padmè woke up at the touch, her eyes opening as she automatically smiled at him with her glorious love radiating into the Force and down their bond for him to feel. “Morning, Angel,” he whispered through a throat that felt like it had swallowed a ball of cotton laced with nails.

Padmè blinked at him, her expression turning to one of concern. She pulled her hand out from under his and reached up to touch his face, tracing the tear track down his cheek. “Ani, what’s wrong?”

Another sob caught in his throat, and he had to work to swallow it down. Lacing his fingers through hers, he held onto her like a lifeline. “Padmè, we have to talk...”

* * *

_Meanwhile on Mandalore…_

Ahsoka woke up with a loud gasp, the tip of one montral almost taking out Rex’s eye as she moved suddenly from their postcoital cuddle.

Rex, ever the soldier, woke up instantly as well, his hard naked body tense under hers as he grabbed her waist so she didn’t fall off from her suddenly precarious perch. “What’s wrong? You sense something?” he asked gruffly, eyes glancing over her face before scanning their bedroom that Bo-Katan had given them to use in her clan’s massive Sundari apartment building.

Ahsoka shook her head, her eyes huge and almost wild as she stared at her new mate. “No. Not wrong exactly.”

Rex relaxed. Slightly. “Then what?”

The girl cupped her beloved’s stubble covered face – it had been a long day and night battling Maul’s Mandalorian Minons (a name that had made even the reserved Ursa Wren laugh when Ahsoka had first said it months ago) and he hadn’t had time to shave yet – looking at him with serious eyes. “There's something I need to tell you about Togrutas."

Sensing that this wasn't going to be good news, Rex’s dark gold eyes shuttered as he hid his thoughts from her, but his hands cupped hers gently and he gave her an encouraging smile as he said, "What's that?" 

She grimaced at the pain she knew she was about to deliver to the man who meant more to her than anything or anyone in the galaxy. “It is quite common for us to have more than one heartmate. And... I do."

"Oh."

She was right. The pain that leaked past his shields made her want to cry. "The thing is, I never planned to claim him unless he initiated the bond first."

"That's... good?"

"Yes. And no." Leaving Anakin behind after she'd left the Order had certainly made the pain of thinking that she'd never be able to claim her heartmate somewhat more bearable. She'd never expected to find another one who'd been practically right under her nose the whole time nearly a year later. She didn't bother to explain that, though. Rex was more than smart enough to figure that out on his own once he knew more. "The thing is, he just did. In a dream. But it’s very real.” 

“Ahso’ika…” He closed the small distance between them and kissed her forehead gently. “Whatever you need, baby. I’ll always be here for you.”

She pressed a lingering kiss to his determinedly upward curving lips before gazing into his beautiful eyes again. “Thank you, Rexi. I love you. Forever and ever.”

“And I you,” he husked back, stroking her lekku with his thumbs. His mouth quirked up into a genuine smile on one side. “Sooooooo, do I want to know who I’m sharing you with?”

Ahsoka gave him back a weird grimace smile. “You kinda already do. At least, you used to.”

Rex stared at her for a few second as the wheels turned in his mind, and then he gasped. “Shabla haran! Not Anakin!”

Ahsoka laughed once, more a choke than anything. “Yes, Anakin.”

“But he’s married to Senator Amidala!”

She sighed as she thunked her forehead down against his chest. “I know.”

* * *

**A/N: For the beginning of Ahsoka's relationship with Rex, read 'Old Friends, Reunited and Lost Again'. The stories won't be connected beyond the canon events that have already taken place (Battle of Coruscant and the initial Siege of Mandalore), but I imagine the Rexsoka relationship being exactly the same in both up to this point in the timeline.**


	3. Who Deserves Who?

**This next six chapters are for Jack_Starwin, who bribed me with many coffees to continue his story. Thank you muchly! :D**

* * *

**Who Deserves Who?:**

At the four words no romantic partner ever wants to hear, coupled with the tears in her husband’s eyes, Padmè felt her heart drop down into the region of her stomach to take up residence with the twins.

But, being the strong woman she was, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, pulled him up too, then summoned a brave little smile and brushed off the tears from Anakin’s cheeks as they fell. “Whatever it is we need to talk about, we’ll get through it together” she said softly as she searched his water-filled blue eyes for a clue as to what was wrong. _Why does he look guilty? Please don’t let it be another Sand People type disaster._ “We love each other way more than anything this wretched galaxy could throw at us. Promise.”

Anakin sniffed back more tears and shook his head slowly before tipping forward and resting his head on her bare shoulder and wrapping his arms around her. “I don’t deserve you,” he mumbled into her skin as he trembled faintly.

Closing her eyes for a moment in fear, she leaned her cheek against his soft hair and stroked her fingers through the collar-length curls. The morning sun was bringing out the pure gold in the dark blond mane he was sporting now, making it look absolutely stunning. She’d spent hours last night with her hands in his hair as he loved her with mouth and fingers and body and had quickly come to the conclusion that she really liked it this length.

She still couldn’t believe how much more he’d matured in the last five months. He certainly didn’t look his real age of nearly twenty-two. The war had given him ancient shadows in his eyes long ago, but now his features were starting to age before his time as well. There were lines of stress and exhaustion on his face that shouldn’t have appeared for decades yet, and a weary resignation in his eyes that only increased her determination to end this war as soon as she could.

Her young husband was beyond tired, and this breakdown only proved it.

“Of course you do,” she whispered. “No one deserves to be happy more than you do. You’ve been through too much.”

She felt him huff. “Understatement,” he muttered.

She waited a little, expecting more words from him, but nothing emerged aside from a long, shuddering sigh as he relaxed against her. Eventually, she had to smile wryly to herself. _As nice as this is…_ “Ani, I hate to rush you, but your children are dancing on my bladder and I need to get up very, very soon.”

This galvanized him into instant action.

“Oh Force!” He was up, off the bed, and on his feet in less than a second. “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed as he came around to her side of the bed and scooped her up out from under the covers in an easy movement and then deposited her on her own feet in a fraction of the time it would have taken her to finagle her awkward self off the bed on her own. “Here, you good?”

She held onto his arms for a moment as she found her balance and gave him a beaming smile. “That’s it, you’re officially not allowed to ever leave and are hereby employed as my crane to help me get up off of various pieces of furniture until the children are born.”

He gave her a pained smile. “I wish I could. You have no idea how much.”

Padmè sighed softly and kissed his stubbly chin, then turned and looked for something to wear, feeling very naked and fat despite the fact that Anakin had literally worshiped her changed body to death last night. “I know. Unrealistic dreaming, but it is a nice one.” She stepped over the heap of silvery blue silk that was the nightgown she’d worn to bed (and hadn’t had on for very long before he pulled it off and tossed it half way across the room) and grabbed her comfortable plush robe from just inside her closet instead. As she made for the en suite refresher, she looked over her shoulder at Anakin, who was hovering behind her with a worried look on his face. He was still completely naked and very much worth looking at. “I’ll be right back, and I’m fine, I don’t actually need a crane, so stop fretting.”

He blinked and flushed slightly at the realization that he’d been fully prepared to help her up off the toilet. “Right. Sorry.”

Padmè laughed softly and closed the door in his face.

When she emerged some many minutes later, having taken care of all of her usual morning ablutions since she was in there anyway, Anakin was just walking back in the bedroom door carrying a breakfast tray and wearing his black pajama bottoms only. The sight of his strong arm and chest muscles made her wish she could jump on him the way she used to. She rubbed a hand over her belly. _As much as I love you two, I can’t wait for you to evacuate my body._

He smiled when he saw her; that cautious curving of lips that said he still couldn’t quite believe that she was his. “Angel. I brought us breakfast. Threepio already had it ready.”

“I see that,” she smiled back and climbed back into bed, pulling the comforter over her legs and leaning against the headboard. Anakin copied her on the other side of the bed, balancing the tray with an easy grace that she envied. She picked up a slice of warm, already buttered toast and took a bite that should have been a delicate nibble, but really wasn’t; she was starving. Or more accurately, the twins were. Her only consolation was that Anakin managed to consume a good quarter of his toast in one bite, so she didn’t feel quite so much like an unrefined savage.

She finished her toast while he ate his and another besides in companionable silence. But once hers was gone and she’d picked up a bowl of yogurt filled with fresh berries and a spoon (which she waved at him) she said, “All right, talk. What had you so upset?”

Anakin stabbed at his own yogurt, stirring everything around listlessly. He glanced at her and that guilty look was back. Her yogurt didn’t look quite so appealing anymore. “I had a dream,” he muttered.

_Oh. That's not so bad. Dreams, even if they're one of his ominous visions, definitely don't rank up with there with mindless murder._

“And?” she encouraged when he seemed to get stuck on just that.

“And it wasn’t about you,” he told his breakfast.

Padmè raised a single eyebrow. “So? I’m sure I can’t be the only thought in your head.”

Anakin flashed her a wry look. “You usually are, actually. Thinking about you keeps me sane and from doing many of the stupid things I’d like to do. Like yell at the Council or strangle a Hutt, just because.”

“Oh.” That was both incredibly flattering and very alarming. _Maybe it’s best not to think about that too much._ “So what was your dream about then?”

He stabbed at his yogurt again and then put it back on the tray resting between them with a clang, uneaten. “I betrayed you. I had wild sex with Ahsoka, got her pregnant too, and created an unbreakable mating bond with her.”

Padmè gawked at her cringing husband. Flat out gawked. And then she laughed. Long and hard while he stared at her with the most comical look of alarm on his face.

“Kark, did I break you?” he asked after a minute or so.

She shook her head, still snorting and giggling (and very grateful that she'd already used the facilities), but finally managed to control her mirth. “No.” She swiped at a stray tear of laughter and then took a bite of her yogurt, much to his shock.

“Then why aren’t you freaking out on me right now?!”

Padmè swallowed and waved her spoon at him again. “Because you, Anakin Skywalker, have been in love with Ahsoka for years. I’m just surprised it took you this long to realize it.”

His jaw dropped and he looked like a landed fish for a few seconds. “What?! Why would you think that?!”

Padmè took another bite, making him wait a few seconds. “Because… I was the one who held you as you cried and raged when she left you. I was the one who saw you freak out when she was captured by Hondo. I was the one who kept you from pulling all of your hair out when she was captured by the Trandoshan hunters and you didn’t know where she was for a week. I was the one who listened to you gush over every single one of her accomplishments. Anakin, I practically watched you fall in love with the girl with each passing day that you were together. If you hadn’t fallen for me first, I have no doubt you would have defied the Order for her instead.”

He stared at her, and she could almost literally see the thoughts whirling through his mind as he processed the truth. “I always thought I loved her like a sibling, like how I feel about Rex and Obi-Wan,” he said quietly, bunching up the comforter in his hands over and over.

“Maybe that’s how it started,” she said gently, touching his arm. “But somewhere along the way it became more than that. I know you, Ani, and I know what you look like when you’re in love with someone. I guarantee you’ve never looked at Obi-Wan and Rex the same way you look at Ahsoka and myself. For example, what was the first thing you wanted to talk about while we waited for a medic to look at your arm yesterday?”

Anakin automatically glanced down at where his golden mechanical arm met flesh and winced at the memory. (He’d been bleeding from some stunt or other while saving the Chancellor that he hadn’t been very specific about, but she could imagine it must have been something bad to partially tear away from his skin like it had.) “Ahsoka,” he mumbled. Then clearer, “The first thing I told you about was Ahsoka and how mature and grown up she is now and how I never even got to hug her before we were separated again.”

“And what should have been the first thing you wanted to talk about?”

He winced again. “How awesome crash-landing half a dreadnaught was? Saving Palpatine? The epic space battle? Obi-Wan finally opening up to me and letting me see that he was Human too and not as perfect a Jedi as he pretends to be? Killing Dooku when I shouldn’t have?”

She nearly laughed again at some of those options but the last two sobered her instantly. “Any of those would have made more sense than talking for half an hour about the ten minutes spent with someone you haven’t seen in almost a year.”

Anakin looked at her with woebegone puppy eyes. “I'm sorry. I'm failing you. And you’re right. Like you always are. I guess I’ve always loved Ahsoka. How come you’re not upset about it?”

Padmè took another bite before answering, savouring the explosion of sweet and sour on her tongue. “I was at the beginning, when I first figured out what was happening with your Padawan. But after a while, especially after spending so much time with her myself and growing to love her too, I realized that you needed her just as much as you needed me. I couldn’t be there for you anywhere near as much as I wanted to be and I learned to take comfort in the fact that you had someone else to make you smile when I could not. There’s nothing I’ve ever wanted more in this galaxy than to see you happy and carefree and she does that for you, even more than I do, I think, because you’re so similar.”

“Padmè” he breathed, shaking his head slowly. “You’re amazing and I love you more than I ever have, I swear.”

She smiled at him and patted his cheek. “And that’s why I’m not worried. You have a huge heart that could love everyone on Coruscant if you wanted to; I fully believe you’re capable of loving two people at once and making us both feel like the Empress of the Galaxy.”

His blue eyes lit up. “Do you want to be, because I’m sure I could make that happen right now if you wanted.”

While she was fairly sure he was joking, she didn’t doubt he’d try his best to do exactly that if she or Ahsoka asked. Giggling, she shook her head. “No. Stars no. Queen of one planet was more than enough for me. I’m perfectly happy exactly as I am; your wife, the mother of your children, and a Senator in a just and fair Republic that I will believe in and fight for for as long as I live.”

Anakin inhaled slowly and then leaned over to kiss her like she was made of glass, holding the back of her head in his right hand carefully so the metal joints didn't tangle in her curls. Then he leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, “I definitely don’t deserve you, my beautiful angel.”

She huffed softly, kissed her precious Jedi Knight back three times harder than he had her, and then pushed him back. “Sure you do. Now eat your breakfast before I eat it for you.”

Anakin grinned like a little boy. “Yes, Mom.”

Padmè narrowed her eyes at him and shook her spoon at his resulting smirk. “I am NOT your mother.”

“I know,” he said, after vacuuming in the biggest possible spoonful of yogurt and berries, his eyes twinkling madly. “But you’re about to be a mother, so that means I can call you a mom.”

Padmè growled and stole a spoonful of his yogurt, since hers had somehow become empty over the course of their conversation.

“Hey!” he protested with a laugh, pulling his food further away from her.

Huge stomach or not, Padmè dove after it.

* * *

**A/N: So I have some news.**

**I'm now unemployed. Because I've moved. I have another job lined up, but it doesn't start until April at the earliest, which means I'll have lots and lots of time to write for you guys. That's the good news. The bad news is that after cleaning stalls and taking care of horses for 26 years, I feel it's time to try and do something a little more meaningful with my life before I kick the bucket and my headstone says, 'Here Lies the World’s Best Stall Cleaner'.**

**What I really want to be is a full-time writer. I'd prefer to just write fanfics for you all, and with your help and support, it might just be possible. Aside from that, though, I've also started the process of converting as many of my stories as I can into original works and have set up a website where you all can continue reading your favourite stories in a somewhat different version for a small fee. (50 cents a chapter or $5 for an entire finished story is what I'm currently thinking. Anyone agree with me that this sounds fair?)**

**If there's anyone out there who'd prefer that I write just your fanfics full-time as they are instead, well... check out my Facebook page, TheLoneRebel’s Stories. It always has updates and new information as it becomes available.**


	4. Changing the Fate

**A/N: Just another little reminder that this story has the same tree trunk as ‘Old Friends, Reunited and Lost Again’ but has Y’d off into a fix-it A.U. instead of following canon events like the other story. If it wasn’t clear, Anakin had the hot dream about Ahsoka instead of the depressing vision of Padmè dying, which is where the two stories diverge.**

* * *

**Changing the Fate:**

Anakin and Padmè were nearly finished the large bowl of meiloorun and yogan pieces that was the last item on their breakfast tray (which Anakin had only just barely saved from being upended when Padmè attacked him for his yogurt – which he ended up sharing with her) when his comm link started chiming insistently.

He glared down at the pile of dark tunics and other things lying beside the bed that had been shucked from his person with all possible haste yesterday evening. “Sometimes, I hate that thing,” he muttered.

Padmè, who was now sitting in his lap sideways, made a sound in agreement. “It does seem to be made with the sole purpose of calling you away from me.”

“Exactly,” Anakin grumbled.

He thought about ignoring it, but a niggle from the Force and a faint echo of, _“It would be nice if Anakin would pick up the comm on the first try for once,”_ told him that he should answer it this time. So he reluctantly let go of Padmè’s waist with his left hand and summoned the small cylindrical device from his belt. It popped out from under his tabard a second later and flew into his waiting hand.

He thumbed the button to answer and said dryly, “Wishes do come true sometimes, Master.”

Padmè raised an eyebrow at this, not having been privy to Obi-Wan’s thought in his head.

Through their bond, Anakin heard Obi-Wan think, _“Oh,”_ half a second before he said it on the comm as well. **“You weren’t supposed to hear that. Or maybe you were. I don’t know. Either my shields are slipping or you’re getting stronger on me again,”**

“Probably the first,” Anakin teased, “You are getting old now, Master, what with all those grey hairs trying to take over.”

 **“And whose fault is that?”** Obi-Wan’s voice teased back.

“Mine, I know,” Anakin admitted. They'd had various versions of this conversation at least a dozen times before and it was still not old. It probably never would be. 

**“Precisely. I’m sure I’m sprouting another one right now while I studiously pretend that I don’t sense you anywhere near your room in the Temple where you’re supposed to be.”**

Both of Padmè’s eyebrows rose and she leveled him with a look that said she was going to ask him about Obi-Wan’s perceptiveness later.

Wincing slightly, he said, “Sorry, Master.”

**“No need to apologize, my dear one – I resigned myself long ago to the fact that you were going to make me old before my time. But at least you didn’t make me comm you half a dozen times for once before you answered.”**

Anakin winced again at the gentle chastisement. “Sorry, Master.”

**“Hmmmm. I do believe you actually are this time. Thank you. But I didn’t comm you to talk about my fading hair. We have a briefing on the Outer Rim sieges at 9am. And we have word from Mandalore.”**

Anakin’s previously relaxed posture straightened abruptly, much to Padmè’s dismay, since she’d been leaning on his chest. He shot her an apologetic look as he supported her again with his left arm. “Ahsoka?! Is she all right?!”

 **“She’s fine,”** Obi-Wan reassured. **“Already had a brief scuffle with Maul, according to Jessie’s report, but came out of that with nothing more than a bruise or two from having Rex literally thrown at her.”**

Anakin winced again for an entirely different reason. Padmè joined him this time too. _That had to hurt._ “That’s good, I suppose. But why is Jesse reporting in and not Rex or Ahsoka?”

**“Ah, well, according to Jesse, his commanders have been inseparable except for during the initial siege when the battle forced them apart and that they are currently holed up in a room together again, ‘strategizing’.”**

Despite knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that this was a possibility, what with knowing exactly how much Rex adored Ahsoka, what she’d said in his dream, and having seen their intimate embrace just before they went their separate ways (he to Coruscant and they to Mandalore), Anakin still stared at his commlink in shock. Padmè petted his arm in sympathy. “They’re what?” he managed to force out through the sudden lump in his throat.

 **“Engaging in close-quarters negotiations,”** Obi-Wan said dryly. **“Surely I don’t have to spell it out any further than that for you, being familiar with the tactic yourself?”**

Anakin flushed under the amused gaze of his wife. “Ummm, no. I think I got it, thank you.” He cleared his throat in discomfort, and then asked, “So, what else did Jesse say that hopefully has nothing to do with Snips getting frisky?”

Obi-Wan chuckled but thankfully let the matter drop. **“He said that Maul’s Mandos put up a hell of a fight, but our superior numbers made the difference, so they took control of the capital. They lost a third of their gunships and the men in them before they could even get to the city, but once landed, the men fought with a vengeance and won in the end. He said Ahsoka disabled and knocked out at least a third of the enemy all on her own and that all of the captured footage of her on the boys’ helmet cams is now being played over and over again** **on a big screen** **in the mess hall they were given. Calls it one hell of a morale booster.”**

“I bet,” Anakin could picture her in her new Mandalorian inspired battle outfit absolutely owning the enemy. She’d always been an amazing warrior despite her small size, but another year of growing up had crafted her into something only an idiot would underestimate. She was still all lean muscle under her curves and a deadly animal grace that had only improved with her increased confidence in herself. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that myself.”

 **“Same.”** He heard Obi-Wan sigh a little. **“Our Padawan went and turned into a woman on us while she was gone, didn’t she?”**

“Yeah.” Anakin sighed a little too, realizing that his subconscious had definitely noticed and had given him the dream to kick him in the gut with the knowledge. “What about the Maul encounter? Did Jesse say anything else about that?”

**“Yes. Said he wasn’t there, but that Ahsoka, Vaughn, and half a dozen others had followed some of Maul’s Mandalorian Minions – his words, not mine – into the sewer system. It was trap, of course, and only Ahsoka came back alive from the initial search group. She managed to signal Rex and he arrived with help. Maul was down in the sewers too and they engaged for a hot minute until Maul said, ‘Not yet,’ and then threw Rex at Ahsoka to distract her while he ran.”**

“He’s turned into a coward?”

**“I don’t think so. Maul has always been more of a strategist then we give him credit for. He’s waiting for something before he fights her again.”**

“I don’t like it.”

**“Neither do I. Especially since Ahsoka said that Maul was expecting me to show up on Mandalore. Possibly with you in tow.”**

“Then we should go! I don’t like the idea of Ahsoka taking on a Sith all on her own anyway.”

 **“She’s not alone, Anakin,”** Obi-Wan said gently. **“She has Rex and Lady Kryze and literally thousands of soldiers backing her up. Besides, the Council has already decided that we cannot spare any more troops for the Mandalorian effort. We need to find Grievous and deal with all the new battles that have popped up since his forces left Coruscanti space yesterday. Which we’ll be talking about during that briefing in an hour, by the way.”**

If he didn’t have his pregnant wife in his lap, Anakin would probably be pacing right now. “When did you become so complacent to the Council’s wishes?” he said bitterly. “Especially when it’s Snips and Maul we’re talking about?

**“Anakin…”**

“I thought you had made it your personal mission to see Maul brought to justice!”

**“Yes, but… That didn’t turn out so well the last time I went against the Council to do so.”**

Anakin felt a pang of remorse and sympathy at the reminder of Obi-Wan's loss of his beloved Duchess Satine. “Which should only give you more incentive to catch him and make him pay!”

**“Anakin… I can’t!”**

“That’s banthashit and you know it!” His fist clenched around the commlink as anger coursed through him.

**“Anakin!”**

Padmè glared at him, her eyes saying that he better apologize to Obi-Wan or else.

Anakin decided that having his wife angry at him was not a desirable thing right now; not with him just confessing to be in love with another woman as well. 

“I’m sorry, Obi-Wan. You’re right; you can’t leave without the Council’s permission right now. And you should be available to go take out Grievous when he’s found. You know him much better than I do. I’ll go help Ahsoka.”

Padmè gave him a little smile of approval, so he kissed her forehead in thanks as he exhaled in relief at having said the right thing for once.

 **“Anakin…”** Obi-Wan sighed again. **“You know that’s going to put you in hot water with the Council.”**

“I know, and I don’t care anymore. They already distrust me and wish I didn’t exist, what’s one more mark against me on my record?”

Padmè touched his cheek, her eyes saying that she loved him no matter what, soothing the bitterness creeping into his soul. 

**“They don’t wish you didn’t exist,”** Obi-Wan protested. **“They just… wish you were a little more controllable, I guess.”**

“You mean more like you.” Okay, there was still some residual bitterness clinging on for dear life.

**“Anakin… Fine. I’m not fighting with you over this anymore. Go help your Padawan. I’ll tell them you had a vision or something and that you felt compelled by the Force to disobey orders.”**

_That’s actually not that far off from the truth. I do feel a driving need to see her thanks to my dream. But Obi-Wan doesn’t need to know about that just yet. Maybe never._ “Thank you, Master. I’ll do my best to bring Maul, Ahsoka, and the rest of the 501st back to Coruscant in the timeliest possible manner.”

**“I suppose that’s the best I can hope for. Just one more thing before you go, Palpatine requested your presence at your earliest convenience.”**

“Did he say what for?”

**“No, which is unusual. I don’t trust him anymore and the Force is growing ever darker on Coruscant. The Senate is voting to give him even more executive powers today and I don’t like it. The entire Council doesn't like it, and you know how rarely we all manage to agree on things.”**

Anakin raised a brow at Padmè and she nodded to confirm the vote was real, but her grimace said she wasn’t happy about it either.

As much as he trusted the opinions of his wife and best friend, he couldn’t help but voice his own. “But wouldn’t that mean less deliberating and more action being taken? Wouldn’t that make it easier for us to end this war faster?”

**“Possibly. But he has too much power now. What if he’s not willing to give it all up after the war is over?”**

The feelings Padmè was radiating said that she was worried about the same thing. 

“The Chancellor isn’t like that,” Anakin protested. “He’s a good man.”

**“I hope you’re right. Are you going to see him before you leave, then?”**

“He didn’t mention anything about it being urgent, did he?”

**“No.”**

“Then whatever it is can wait until I get back with Ahsoka and Maul. He probably just wants to thank me again for yesterday.”

 **“You’re probably right. He does like to heap praise upon you,”** Obi-Wan’s teasing tone was back, making Anakin smile.

“I wouldn’t mind if he spread it around a little more. Why I have to be the poster boy for the Jedi is beyond me. I’m not even that good of one.”

Obi-Wan laughed. **“Too true. But then again, neither am I if I’m being one-hundred percent honest.”**

“How’s Master Ti?” Anakin teased leadingly, thinking about how the sparks had flown between the two Masters when they’d rescued her from Grievous yesterday. If the injured Togrutan hadn’t spent the night in Obi-Wan’s quarters getting some T.L.C., then he’d eat his boot.

Padmè’s eyebrows shot up again.

 **“I believe she’s recovering nicely,”** Obi-Wan answered primly.

Padmè looked intrigued, and he knew he was going to have to explain. Not that he minded blabbing on Obi-Wan.

Anakin chuckled. “It’s a good thing you’re such a good liar, Master, or Windu would be having fits about both of us right now.”

Anakin could feel Obi-Wan’s amused affection down their bond. **“Also true.”** He made a soft huffing sound. **“Anyway, ignoring the things we shouldn’t be doing and back to other things you shouldn’t be doing, I recommend you make haste in your departure for Mandalore. I can only delay telling them about where you’ve gone until the war briefing, which is now only forty-five minutes from now.”**

“Right. Thank you, Obi-Wan. I’ll try and keep you informed as to what’s happening.”

 **“Please do.”** Obi-Wan sent a wave of warmth and love and then said, **“May the Force be with you, my former Padawan.”**

Anakin sent the same back. “And you, Master.”


End file.
